Yeah Republicans should keep bringing the "crazy" while you and yours push this sanity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/22/AR2010022201257.html

Well so far, Chris Dudley is just an empty basketball jersey. Huge should wait and see if and how he fills it before anointing him the next "Great White Hope."

You know, this is a site for progressives and people who sign on just to be lippy, are really not adding anything to the mix. I followed up the Post article and it had nothing whatsoever to do with the Archimedes Movement or Dudley or Kitzhaber. It was just some unmedicated ADHD leap to a different policy that the commenter did not like. This says to me that the commenter had nothing whatsoever to say, but felt like doing some projectile puking in the direction of progressives. I say stay on point, or keep quiet.

As to the subject, I was actually interested in learning more about the Archimedes Movement. It certainly shows more bona fides for the job than being a former Blazer.

Until Dudley utters a word of substance, he can be all things to all people. The tea baggers believe what they want to believe, while the Lake O Country Club people believe another version. I wonder how long it will take reporters to ask some questions and figure out what sort of political product Dudley really is. Allen Alley seems to have no clue how one goes about doing that.

One thing is for sure, his people and the Republican Establishment don't want him to have to show his hand politically, not in the primary and not in the general if he can help it. All they want is for Dudley to represent change, and for Kitzhaber and Bradbury to represent the present.

It's one thing to scrutinize Dudley's candidacy but to label Hewitt a "crackpot" reminds of the phrase re: the pot and the kettle.

If Dudley is such a dud as a candidate, shouldn't you be exalting such endorsements if they get him the GOP nomination? Wouldn't that make it just so easy to win.

Scary thing is that Hewitt and the three guys who write powerlineblog (another righty blog)are seen as the "sensible" right.

I read Powerline daily and Hewitt occasionally-parallel universe....

Gee whiz... throw in a 'douchebaggery' reference or two and this post could well have been written by Carla.

Now... a little more context for readers who don't know Kari. For the record, Hewitt raised a humorous but otherwise perfectly valid question about the opening act for the May 2008 Portland rally, The Decemberists - he did not 'accuse' the Obama campaign of playing the Soviet national anthem.

The full context of the quote lifted from his website is as follows:

'Turns out that Obama's opening act at the megarally was The Decemberists, a hugely popular indie rock band, which typically opens their concerts with the Soviet National Anthem.

How odd that the MSM didn't tell us that a few of the 75K in attendance may have come for the tunes.

And did the Obama rally begin with the Soviet National Anthem? The concert went for 45 minutes and was widely pitched on Facebook etc. But did the band trim their act to make it Obama-appropriate?'

Further, how curious the Wikipedia reference to the fact the band is (was?) known for using the Soviet national anthem as an introduction to their concerts was conveniently removed just prior to the Portland rally.

The 3 selectively lifted paragraphs from Hewitt's opinion column about Dudley included here in Kari's post characterized as 'drooling' contain nothing non-factual - nor does Hewitt state HE thinks Dudley will be the next Scott Brown:

• at 6'11", he does stand out in any room
• at 45, he probably was younger than most
• he is new to politics
• any popular ex-Trail Blazer is going to draw attention - whether that ultimately translates to votes or not is another matter
• he did graduate from Yale, he does have diabetes, he did play 16 seasons in the NBA - and it's a good bet he's going to get some national attention from some of the 24/7 political press looking for another Scott Brown-type story

As to his comments about Kitzhaber... well, he HAS spent much of the last decade pushing the 'Archimedes Movement' - which some WOULD call neo-crackpot, and some others single payer. And it would reason that those who favored Obamacare probably would be supportive of the Archimedes Movement. As to his comments about Oregon, they're admittedly rough for Blue Oregonians to take - but then again, it's not a big secret that Oregon does have fiscal problems... and Democrats have held the governorship for 24 years now.

I've seen the Decemberists on seven occasions. They never once opened with the Soviet National Anthem. However, they did once use Christian Fodenventzel (sp) doing a voiceover introduction.

Now if we were to play Hewitt's game, why does he even know the Soviet National Anthem? He must be a commieniss.

I'm pretty sure Hewitt also incorrectly stated that Democrats have held the governor's office for the last 24 years. I'm pretty sure we're on just a 20 year run: 4 years for Barbara Roberts 8 years for Kitzhaber 8 years for Kulongoski = 20 years.

Maybe he doesn't know about the history re Kitzhaber succeeding Roberts, but if he's going to judge Kitzhaber so thoroughly, he should acquaint himself further with the guy's history.

Here are Hugh Hewitt's crackpot bona fides.

Connor Allen, I know we would like to forget that he was (and presumably still is) a Democrat, but Neil Goldschmidt was governor from 1986 - 1990.

"I'm pretty sure Hewitt also incorrectly stated that Democrats have held the governor's office for the last 24 years. I'm pretty sure we're on just a 20 year run: 4 years for Barbara Roberts 8 years for Kitzhaber 8 years for Kulongoski = 20 years."

As fbear said you forgot Goldschmidt but I think you could also say a lot of today's Republicans wouldn't consider Vic Atiyeh, Tom McCall or Mark Hatfield proper Republicans so you could almost say it's been 52 years.

riverat:

There are 21st century Republicans who wouldn't consider McCall, Atiyeh, and probably Hatfield, Clay Myers, Norma Paulus, Dave Frohnmayer along with legislators like Nancy Ryles, Mary Alice Ford, Jeanette Hamby, Delna Jones, and some others "real " Republicans.

LT, don't I know it. I long for the days of sane Republicans. One other name that merits consideration here is Bob Packwood although he suffers some of the same problems as Goldschmidt. And maybe you could even include Jack Roberts in the group.

- at 6'11", he does stand out in any room

So, what's the difference between saying that and "seated or standing behind his mobility device, Bradbury doesn't much stand out"? Irrelevant is irrelevant. That's the biggest pisser about PC speech. It undercuts its own goals, like all neurotic behavior.

<h2>While it seems that Dudley is out of touch with most Oregon values, I sometimes wonder if all the D party faithful falling into line with Kitz are doing it because they think his ascendancy is inevitable - not because people actually want him as governor again.</h2>